(REFLECTIONS ON Jonah 3:1-10)

1 Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh the great city and proclaim to it the proclamation which I am going to tell you.” 3 So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a three days walk.

What mistake did Jonah make the first time when the word of the Lord came to him? He quickly turned into himself and reacted to the Lord’s word based on how he felt about Assyria, about the task at hand, and the message that the Lord wanted him to proclaim to Assyria.

The first time, the Lord said to Jonah, “Arise, go to Nineveh the great city and cry against it, or their wickedness has come up before Me.” This second time, the word of the Lord came again to Jonah, and the Lord told Jonah to proclaim to it the proclamation which He would reveal to Him. Jonah then did not look to himself this time, didn’t react based on how he felt, but arose according to the word of the Lord.

This is the position that Jonah was to take. He was not the message giver, but the messenger. It wasn’t his message, but he was to serve as a vessel of God’s message to Nineveh. The people did not believe in Jonah, but rather they rightly believed in God and this led to a nation wide repentance.

Brothers and sisters, how many times do we interpret God’s word, commands, and instructions based on how it makes us feel, whether or not we agree or disagree, rather than to just proclaim the Lord’s proclamation, and to listen rather to our own heart and mind instead of the word of the Lord?

Is this easy? No, but God is the God of second chances, just like He gave Jonah a second chance. On our path and journey through Christ to God by the Holy Spirit, may we grow and learn to proclaim the Lord’s proclamation, and to listen to the word of the Lord, continually surrendering our interpretations and reactions to Christ and allowing His word to speak purely to us and through us.

This takes a level of humility, open-mindedness, and an open heart that we could never achieve without Christ, so as we learn to live in Christ, may we let it be Christ that captures our minds and hearts, over even our own.

Pastor Michael Lu
Enduring Word Bible Commentary: Jonah 3